Unheard Voices

Rao,who was in the city last weekend to launch his latest book,Whistling in the Dark –Twenty One Queer Interviews (co-edited with Dibyajyoti Sarma),has dedicated almost a good decade of his life to understand the various queer identities in India. His earlier novel,The Boyfriend,has been acclaimed as a major “coming out” for gay India. In 1999 Rao,along with a student of his launched the Queer Studies Circle in Pune. “There are so many queer sex identities in India—kotis (effeminate men who usually are passive in the sex act) ,hijras,men who have sex with men,etc. We wanted to find out how they viewed themselves. We encouraged them to talk,” says Rao.

Whistling in the Dark,a collection of interviews of gay men and women,took shape during those meetings. Soon after he launched the Queer Studies Circle,Rao wanted to introduce LGBT studies in the University of Pune. The proposal was rejected by the academic body in charge. “The head of the body was a notorious womanizer,yet he felt that Indian students had no need for queer studies,” smiles Rao. Eventually,LGBT studies was introduced in the University of Pune,albeit under the tag of ‘alternative literature’. “I have no problems with the word alternative. It has positive connotations,” claims Rao. But he didn’t want to hide behind euphemisms when he decided on the name of his latest book. “I wanted to name it Testicle Testimony. But the publishers didn’t agree,” he says. In the same irreverent tone he claims that of the 21 people interviewed for the book,many were his sex partners. “Some of these men come from the lower strata of the society. There was a masseur I picked up,there was an autorickshaw driver. They wouldn’t have volunteered such intimate information if I had held a Dictaphone in front of them,” says. A number of the interviewees don’t even know about the existence of the book. “Most of the interviews appear under assumed names. We wanted to present these testimonies without editing them for the sake of propriety,” claims Rao.

Does he feel that he exploited the these men and women who trusted him with intimate details of their lives? “I take full moral responsibility for my actions.But the truth is that most of the interviews appear under assumed names. And then there are some people who would never know about the book simply because in their circles books are not read. I challenge anybody to identify those whose names have been changed. Only me and a few of my close friends know about their real identity,” says Rao.